Sausage and Red Russian Kale Soup with Tomatoes, Chickpeas, and Herbs will warm you up!

(Salt Lake is having a few weeks of below freezing temperatures, so a hearty and warming soup like this one seems perfect for A Month of Daily Phase One Recipes. I'm trying to stay upbeat about the broken arm, and some hot soup like this could really help!)

I first made this soup when it snowed in Salt Lake and I was home sick with that coughing thing teachers get each year from being around too many small people with germs. I didn't feel much like cooking, so I was very glad to have soup in the freezer that I'd made in August when my garden was overflowing with Red Russian Kale. In the soup I used Colosimo's Tuscan Sausage, made by a local Utah company, and also added some fresh herbs from my garden. There must be a thousand variations on soups like this with sausage, kale, and beans, but I thought this version was delicious.

Start by sauteeing chopped onion in olive oil for a few minutes, then add garlic, finely chopped fresh rosemary, and sage and saute a few minutes more.

I squeezed the sausage out of the casings and browned well before adding it to the soup. Any type of flavorful sausage would work, but turkey sausage of some type is best for the South Beach Diet.

Red Russian Kale might have been my favorite garden crop this year. I don't like long stringy pieces of greens in soup, so I chopped it fairly well. You could use any variety of kale, but some of the more curly types will require a bit longer cooking time.

The soup simmered for about 30 minutes with the onions, herbs, sausage, chicken stock, and tomatoes. Then I added the chopped kale and garbanzos and simmered for about 45 minutes more.

Sausage and Red Russian Kale Soup with Tomatoes, Chickpeas, and Herbs
(Makes about 6 servings, recipe created by Kalyn)

Add 1 more tsp. olive oil to frying pan if needed and turn heat back to medium. Squeeze sausage out of casings and cook, breaking apart with metal turner, until sausage is browned and well broken apart. Add sausage to pot with simmering chicken stock. Add canned tomatoes and juice, tomato sauce, black pepper, and Vegeta seasoning if using. Simmer about 30 minutes over low heat.

While soup simmers, wash kale, spin or shake dry, and finely chop into ribbons, then turn cutting board and chop again going the opposite way. Drain chickpeas (garbanzos) into metal colander placed in the sink and rinse with cold water until no more foam appears.

After about 30 minutes, add kale and garbanzos to simmering soup mixture. Simmer about 45 minutes more, until kale is completely softened, and all flavors are well blended. Serve hot. This would be great with freshly grated Parmesan.

Nutritional Information?
I chose the South Beach Diet to manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you.

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Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and this blog earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

Glad to read you are feeling better... and hope you get well soon Kalyn! Love the step by step photos... this is such a nourishing soup with so many nice ingredients. Thanks for sharing with whb this week =)

Oh I bet you were so glad you had that in the freezer! Even food bloggers can't cook when ill! I hope you get better soon - your soup certainly looks like it would drive out the sickness, very hearty and warming.

I love this type of hearty soup that's got tomatoes and chickpeas and then some sort of veg :) I like mine with cabbage...probably because I haven't got Red Russian Kale around here! What a fantastic name for a vegetable :)

Hi Kalyn's ! It's my first time here and it is great ! The soup sounds quite delicious and I will try it quite soon. Since you like kale so much, do not miss the Italian recipe "Ribollita" straight from Tuscany !http://blog.gustoshop.eu/Greetings from sunny Italy !

That looks fantastic. I want it. Will look for kale at the farmers market tomorrow so I can make this! Thank you Kalyn, and BTW your name was raised during dinner at our little Quaker jaunt, and only good things could be said :)

Lynn, this is really good soup, if I can say that without sounding like I'm bragging. I do love making soup, maybe more than any other single type of food! Thanks for letting me know people said nice things about me at the Quaker party. I was thinking of you guys while I was eating my Peanut Butter Oatmeal (thanks Alanna for teaching me to make that!)

This is excellent - I used Italian style bison sausage (from http://www.wildideabuffalo.com/) and cannellini beans. I didn't have a full 10 cups of chicken stock, so I used chicken stock, veggie stock and 2 cups of water.

Wanted to tell you, I made this tonight! Amazing!! I used regular ground pork Italian sausage (rinsed and well drained to remove fat... turkey sausage would be healthier). When I got the pot started I realized this would be a TON of soup (my kids are not soup-lovers) so I halved the chicken stock, tomatoes, and beans. Everything else the same. I also pureed the tomatoes in their juice because my kids "hate chunks." It turned out lovely :)

First, Thank you for such a wonderful blog. This the second time I'm doing a "Phase 1". While seeking a source of South Beach friendly recipes that let me use fresh veggies from the CSA and my herb garden. Wow! Your site is a one stop shop.

Second, I just received my box of veggies and had the dreaded kale. While others rave about this veggie, I feel like rookie in an Iron Chef competition. No more! This soup is awesome. Believe it or not, it is a balmy 76 degree in Miami and I just ate two bowls.

Just a little modification...I had beautiful Italian chicken sausage (from a real butcher) with onions and pepper. It didn't miss a beat.

Roanne, I don't mind constructive feedback, but in this case I would have to say you are not following the recipes that closely. Here's the list from today of the ten latest recipes (from the bottom of the blog):

Have been craving a sausage and kale soup and this fits the bill. It is very snowy and freezing here in London and this would be perfect. Kaylyn, do you use the ribs of the kale in your recipes? I usually give mine to my dog as she loves them.

Going to try this today but will not use the Vegeta seasoning. Guess I was a little surprised when I saw that in the ingredients since it has such high sodium content. I focus on keeping at the 1500 mg sodium recommendation per day. Do you have any other suggestions for seasoning besides the Vegeta? Thanks!

I looked up the sodium for Vegeta and it is 700 mg. of sodium in a soup that makes six servings, which doesn't seem unreasonable to me. And I said the Vegeta was optional, so I don't enjoy the feeling that you're lecturing me about using it. I hesitate to recommend other seasonings, because I'm not sure my choices are going to fit your standards as far as sodium, but any kind of all-purpose seasoning that you like can probably be used in this.

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